Helping People Dress Up for Halloween

Kodi Hadrick, 25, is the manager — or “boss lady,” as her business card has it — at Abracadabra NYC on West 21st Street, a three-level emporium of costumes, for sale or rent, makeup, wigs, magic supplies, props and other paraphernalia essential to the season. This time of year, it is less a job than a way of life;•as Halloween approaches, the store is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. She lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn — “In real estate they call it Clinton Hill, but it’s really Bed-Stuy,” she said — with her boyfriend, Scott Bredengerd, 31, who works in film production, and their dog, Rocko, a pug-boxer mix.

DOUGHNUT TIME I try to get up early so I can have breakfast with my boyfriend. Our dog wakes us up, so it’s kind of hard to sleep in↲ on Sundays. We’re up probably around 8, 8:30. By breakfast I mean a doughnut at Dough . They have the best doughnuts. Like, it’s the best thing ever. I don’t even like doughnuts and I live for these things. My favorite is lemon poppy.

DOG OUT, DOG IN We take him out, then we put him in. He’s not very good with other dogs, and he’s not a very good walker. That’s the first thing we do.

OFF TO WORK↲ I take the C to the F. I try to get in to the store early, just to unwind↲, have a couple minutes to myself and figure out how the day is going to go, sometimes pick out↲ a costume that we’re going to wear during the season.

DRESSING UP We try to dress up↲ on the weekends, or whenever we want, even during the regular season. Wig Wednesdays, Tattoo Tuesdays, stuff like that.

SHOWGIRL … Last year I put together a showgirl costume, a lot of people loved that one: an elaborate headpiece that I wore, I had a corset, it was all bedazzled and bright; it had boas coming off the back.

… OR MICKEY Every year I try to do a Disney character at least one day. Last year I did Mickey Mouse and my hair was two big buns↲ for my ears, so that was kind of funny.

FLOATING I love to be in the middle of everything with the customers, so I’m always floating around. I’ll try to — I’m very huge on lead by example, so if I’m out there engaging with↲ customers, I expect my staff to engage with customers.

THE CROWD We definitely get the crazy New Yorkers, so that’s always fun. We get everybody, we get kids, we get celebrities, we get every genre of people. We just had Shaq in the store. He was buying some magic. He was humongous. He’s the biggest man ever. He was really fun. He had a blast, I think, with our magician.

NO LUNCH Mostly on Sundays I don’t take a break↲. If I do I’ll take a quick break while eating a Pop-Tart at my desk.

THIS YEAR’S LOOKS We’ve had a lot of people come in for “Breaking Bad,” and Egyptian’s also really popular lately — pharaohs and Cleopatras.

MINIMAL COSTUMES Now that we do body painting, that’s even an option. We do that downstairs, so they’re not in the middle of everything. Just pasties and panties, and we paint the costume.

HOME AGAIN I get out of the store, try to get home, cook a dinner or at least have a nice dinner. That used to be huge for me when I lived with my parents. It’s much harder. You definitely have to make time↲.

FAVORITE MEAL I want a steak, I want a potato and a vegetable. And a glass of wine.

SHOWS ONLINE I don’t have cable. I do have shows that I watch, so it’s online. “Dexter” or something, “Breaking Bad.”

BEDTIME I go to bed around 12:30 or 1. I would love to be in bed around 11. But that’s a little unheard-of lately↲.

HALLOWEEN PLANS? By the time I get out of the store on Halloween, it’s usually midnight, and in my head I’m, like, 50 years old. I try to get some rest, because we have to do it again the next day, especially since Halloween’s on a Thursday this year. We still have people booking appointments↲ through Nov. 1, Nov. 2.

Isto também significa relacionar-se com um público que é esmagadoramente hostil ao conceito de defender os direitos de pessoas na prisão. ↔It also means engaging with a public who are overwhelmingly hostile to the concept of defending the rights of people in prison.

Chegando-se à situação insólita de não ter havido nenhum pedido por parte dos países afectados. ↔We have arrived at the unheard-of situation of there having been no request from the countries affected.

Tudo aqui era novo para nós e era difícil se acostumar até mesmo às coisas mais simples, como tomar o ônibus ou o metrô ou marcar uma consulta no médico. ↔Everything here was new to us and it was hard to get used to even the simplest things such as riding the bus and the metro and booking appointments with doctors.

Audio Notes

Tricked Out ↔ Fantasiados

To “trick something out” is a new term, usually applied to customization of a car, such as adding a Playstation in the car or other expensive features. It basically means to decorate or add (“accessorize”) expensive or interesting things.